


Meet Me at the Pyre

by BluePlanetTrash



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Execution, Gen, Lance (Voltron) Whump, Langst, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 00:36:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13329774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluePlanetTrash/pseuds/BluePlanetTrash
Summary: Lance didn't mean to offend anyone with any of the words that he ever said. In fact, his words were meant to flatter or make someone feel better about themselves. He didn't know that other planets didn't take it as well as others. He didn't know that his words were worth his life.- The second chapter contains an alternate ending if you are uncomfortable with major character death.





	1. Chapter 1

If Lance knew that his flirtatious nature would get him killed one day, he would have stopped years ago. How was he supposed to know that it wasn’t taken too kindly on a planet that was far out of their galaxy? Allura might have touched on the fact that the queen of Tyira wasn’t as laid back as other leaders that they had come in contact with, but it didn’t mean that she was immune to charm. It had helped them with alliances before, and they didn’t think that it would be any different than all the other times.

As soon as he saw her, he knew that this would be a tougher case. She held her head high, and her face was stiff and emotionless. She didn’t even move when they entered the throne room to begin the alliance meeting. Without prompt, Lance moved forward it was commonplace for Lance to make the first move to show that the paladins aren’t completely formal and the aliens can be comfortable around them.

“Sorry your majesty, but do you have a map? Because I keep getting lost in your eyes,” he said with a smile and a wink. Almost immediately the Queen screamed out and two guards tackled Lance into the ground. He grunted in shock when a fist flew across his face making his teeth rattle. Although his face was being crushed into the ground, he was able to look up and see the disgust that was on the Queen’s face.

“Take him away,” her advisor monotoned. The guards nodded their heads and began dragging him out of the throne room. He looked helplessly back at Allura and his team, who were straining against guards to try and get to them.

“I’m okay!” He yelled out to them before the doors closed behind him.

“You won’t be,” one of the guards said ominously. He looked up at the face, fear was beginning to creep up in his stomach. He gulped and stared ahead when they didn’t reveal anything else to him. They dragged him into a cell and closed the door behind them before throwing him onto the ground.

“Hey! What are you doing?” He cried when they began ripping his armour off, leaving him in only his black undersuit. At the sound of his voice, one of them lashed out at him, punching him again in the cheek and making him fall to the ground in a heap. The taste of copper spread across his tongue and blood dripped from his nose onto the dirt.

“You have disrespected our Queen and it is time for you to pay,” the guard sneered. Lance looked up at him with wide eyes. This wasn’t supposed to happen, sure the other leaders might have politely asked him to stop if he was being too forward but they never tried to punish him for it. Without giving him a chance to explain himself either. It didn’t make sense to him.

“I’m sorry,” he breathed out staring up at them. Without hesitation one of them kicked him in the stomach making the oxygen rush out of his lungs. He curled into himself, holding his stomach as it spasmed in pain. Drool and tears dripped to the ground as he tried to take a breath of air in. He only relaxed when a small trickle of air streamed into his lungs and he was able to look up at them. They wore sadistic smirks on their faces as they glared down at him.

“You are far past apologizes,” one said cruelly, picking him up by the nape of his neck and turning towards the other so he could deliver vicious blows to his body. With every hit, a shred of hope was replaced with fear. His team would be able to smooth the issue out soon though. Right?

The Queen didn’t even acknowledge the blue paladin as he was dragged out of the room. She looked over to one of the soldiers standing guard and nodded her head. With that, they left. She turned to the rest of the paladins with a smile, which they hesitantly returned.

“I apologize for Lance’s behaviour,” Allura said. Although, she thought the Queen’s reaction was extremely over the top. The Queen waved her off, a scowl appearing on her face again.

“Enough about that, I believe that it is time for dinner,” she said instead. “I assume you will be dining with me?”

“Oh, of course,” Allura agreed nodding her head. “But, the alliance-”

“We will set our terms after we eat,” The Queen cut her off with finality. Allura’s mouth clicked shut in annoyance but she took a deep breath and nodded in understanding. The Queen smiled again and the advisor led them to a dining room, that was being set for the six of them. They sat down and looked over at the empty seat between Keith and Hunk.

“Will Lance be able to join us?” Hunk asked hesitantly. The Queen’s brows furrowed.

“Lance.” His name rolled off of her tongue as if she were talking about the dirt under her feet.

“He has committed a great sin by making advances on the Queen,” her advisor spat, drawing the attention of the paladins.

“He didn’t mean anything by it,” Pidge tried.

“Yeah, he was just trying to lighten the mood,” Keith agreed. The Queen only shook her head and motioned for them to be served. The other paladins sighed but leaned back and watching as they were served.

“Do you think he’s okay?” Hunk asked quietly to Shiro. He looked over at Hunk, worry plain on his face.

“I don’t know but we can only hope,” he whispered back with a comforting smile. Hunk nodded and looked beside him to Keith. He gave him a smile too, with Pidge sticking her head out as well.

“This is delicious,” he complimented when he finally dug into his food. He didn’t notice that none of the other paladins started eating until he said that it was good. Only then did they start. Many agreements and compliments started pouring out of their mouths at the taste of the meal.

“I am glad that you think so,” the Queen stated. “I’ll be sure to give your compliments to the chief,”

Half-way through their last course a soldier walked in and whispered something into the Queen’s ear. She nodded with a little smirk and waved him off again. At the looks from the paladins, she started to explain.

“Arrangements have been made, we will have a bout of entertainment before we make our agreements,”

Allura’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion but nodded none the less. When they agreed to meet they never said anything about entertaining them. They also said they would hold dinner after they confirmed their alliance. Everything about this planet was confusing her.

“Perfect,” she snapped her fingers and were brought dessert. This Queen was really starting to get on Allura’s nerves. She didn’t have any problem with using degrading body language on her subjects or her guests. Although, it didn’t really seem like they had any problem with it. Probably because they had been forced to bend to her will their entire lives. It didn’t look like the paladins were very comfortable around her, even as she plowed through and conversed with them as if she hadn’t gotten their friend and teammate dragged away for only being himself.

It seemed like forever before they were all finished and were being herded out of the castle doors to a courtyard in the middle of the city. They circled around the Queen like an entourage as they got closer to the large groups of locals. It turned out to be unneeded as they parted like the sea as she drew near and bowed at her feet. She and the paladins walked onto a platform to take a seat. Only then did they notice what was sitting in the middle of the courtyard.

“Is that- a pyre?” Pidge asked nervously. They couldn’t be sure, it looked like just a metal pole sticking out of the ground, but around it was stacked with wood and papers. They could only imagine that it was soaked with some sort of accelerant. They looked over at the Queen and gaped at her lack of reaction. This couldn’t be normal, the citizens didn’t even look fazed though.

“Bring out the guilty party!” A soldier yelled. There were cheers from the crowd as they parted for the guards that appeared from between the cities buildings. A new feeling of terror rose in their chests when they realized that they were the very same guards that dragged Lance away earlier.

“No,” Shiro breathed out. All of them hoping that they wouldn’t see what they thought they were going to. He stumbled between the guards, huffing and puffing with blood dripping off of his chin. He glanced up and locked eyes with Shiro, tears of relief cut through the blood on his cheeks. A different guard walked up to the team and deposited his armour beside them.

“Shiro, please help me,” he cried with a sob. That was all it took for Shiro to jolt up and try to get to him. The guards latched around his waist preventing him from getting any closer to the blue paladin.

“Lance!” He yelled, reaching out a hand towards him as he struggled with the guard. Lance let out a broken wail as he pulled against the guards, straining to get to safety. They lashed out and punched him in the face again, making him yelp and curl his hands over his face.

“Hey!” Hunk screamed, leaping towards him but he too was caught by a guard, one that towered over him. Keith and Pidge fought against their captors crying and screaming to get to their brother. Even Allura’s strength wasn’t enough to get through the guards as she clawed at their armour trying to get through them.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please let me go!” Lance wailed. The guards ignored him and started strapping his arms around the pole. He screamed brokenly, fear replacing any sort of logic he had. He didn’t want to be here. He wanted to go home.

He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die.

“PLEASE DON’T KILL ME! PLEASE! I WANT TO LIVE!” He pleaded with loud gasping sobs. The team’s echoing cries only spurred him on.

“LET HIM GO!” Pidge screamed awkwardly kicking at the guard and trying to push her way through the gaps in their numbers.

“HE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!”

“HE DOESN’T DESERVE THIS!”

“JUST LET HIM GO!”

Lance bawled out apologizes to the Queen, begging for forgiveness from her. He was already terrified, he would never do anything like this again. He learned his lesson, he would be good from now on. He wouldn’t flirt, he wouldn’t even talk if that made her let him go. It only became real after he saw the guard walking forward with a torch. He wailed with fear and tried once again to get loose, the cuffs digging into his already bruised and bloody wrists.

“I’m sorry I was never good enough! I’m sorry that you’ll have to find a new paladin after this!” The guard stopped in front of Lance and turned to look at the Queen.

“Any other last words?” She asked with a huff as if he didn’t deserve to speak any longer. Lance trembled on the spot, thoughts racing through his head. There were so many things that he wanted to say. So many things that he wanted to do. It wasn’t an option for him anymore. He took in a shuddering breath.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t connect more with you, Keith,”

What? No. He and Lance were friends. They were brothers. They had bonded, they sort out their differences. Lance was always there for Keith, and vice versa. It wasn’t fair. He had just found someone that he could connect with. He cried out, tears flushed his face. He screamed that Lance was wrong, they were family.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you find your family Pidge,”

What do you mean? Look in front of you. Her family is currently being burned for being themselves. Her family is surrounding her trying to rescue her brother. She cursed at the world. The guards that were holding her back. The Queen who thought herself higher than Lance’s life. She sobbed in pain, she just needed Lance back. She needed her family.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get you home Hunk,”  
It didn’t matter where they were in the universe. Home isn’t just a place. Home is a feeling you have when you are with people you love. Home is wherever Lance was. Lance was always there to make him feel better. Hunk was always home. He howled at the unfairness and grunted trying to knock over the guard that wouldn’t budge.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be your hero like you were mine Shiro,”

Lance was always a hero. No matter what he said about himself, or who he compared himself to. He always did something that the others didn’t stop to think about. Feeding the prisoners, bringing blankets to battle survivors, comforting the children who lost their parents. He strained against the guards sobbing all the while. Lance was pure. He had done nothing wrong.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be the paladin you wanted me to be Allura,”

He was everything needed in a paladin and more. Brave, selfless, strong, and so much more. He always put others before himself, Her heart was breaking. They would never have anyone like Lance again. There was nobody like Lance. He was one of a kind. She roared, even transforming larger but nothing was letting her through.

“Tell my mamá and papá that I love them, tell my siblings that I love them,”

“Please Lance, you’re not going to die!” Hunk screamed. Lance gave him a little smile in return. Full of forgiveness and adoration towards the paladins.

“I love you guys, so so much,” he finally sobbed out.

A single snap of fingers pierced the air.

“NO!” Shiro screamed as the torch was dropped, and without a single scream to pyre erupted into flames. They watched in shock, tears dripping off of their chins at the wall of flames. No accelerant on Earth would have been able to do that. As quickly as the fire started it died down, leaving nothing but ashes in its wake. At that the guards parted, letting the paladins stumble towards the remains of their teammate. They fell to their knees around the pyre and could only stare at it.

“Oh God,” Hunk choked out when he spotted a metal chain in the ashes and carefully pulled it out. It was his Garrison dog tags. His sobbing began anew as he clutched the tags to his chest. Their shock all turned to grief as memories of the blue paladin flooded their heads. Unbeknownst to them, the locals began retreating back to their homes after their “entertainment” was over leaving the six to grieve without an audience. They heard a throat clear behind them and they turned to look.

It was the queen.

“Now that, that is over with I believe that we should get along with discussing our alliance,” she said sweetly. You could actually hear Hunk snap before he got up a lunged towards the queen. The only thing that held him back was Shiro, who gipped him around the chest just barely able to keep him from attacking the queen. She had the audacity to look confused at him and look to Allura for an explanation.

“How dare you believe that we would form an alliance with you after the actions today,” Allura hissed. She stalked forward getting into her face with a growl. “If I didn’t know that Lance would hate me for it, I would kill you here and leave you to rot,”

“How dare yo-” she tried.

“You are a disgusting creature that deserves to be destroyed for your actions, but I know that life is precious and Lance thought so as well,” Allura continued not beating an eye at the way she tried to interrupt her. She turned away from her without hesitation and went to collect Lance’s armour.

“When the Galra come for you, I hope they leave you for last so you can see what you did to all of your people,” Shiro growled. He turned back to help Hunk, Keith, and Pidge try and move the ashes from the ground into Lance’s helmet. They weren’t going to leave any part of him on this planet. His hands shook from where he was gripping the helmet and soon he burst out into tears again.

They ignored everyone as they made their way back to the ship. All of them were sobbing at their loss. None of them could think of their lives without Lance being a key figure. They didn’t say anything months later when Tyira was attacked and subsequently destroyed. For the rest of Voltron’s days, they would fight in Lance’s name. His desire to help everyone, kept them going even when they wanted to quit.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as Hunk saw the torch being brought out in order to kill his best friend, rage flooded his body. Without hesitation, he whipped around and grabbed the queen by her throat. He lifted her off of the ground and in front of himself to shield himself.

“You let Lance go right now,” he hissed at her while she scrabbled at his hands. By now the guards and locals were all watching Hunk in shock.

“Drop the torch!” Shiro yelled at the guard near Lance’s body. Immediately he dropped it away from the pyre and lifted his hands in the air in surrender.

“Now untie him,” he added. At that, they looked up at the queen hesitantly. Their brows furrowed in frustration and anger as they looked over at the queen.

“Tell them to let him go!” Hunk growled shaking her. She choked and lifted her hand to snap her fingers. Instantly the cuffs came undone and Lance toppled to the ground. Heart-wrenching sobs still coming from his mouth. Hunk didn’t let go until Lance was safely in Shiro’s arms and clutching to his armour. With a nod from Allura, he dropped her like a sack of potatoes to instead collect Lance’s armour and join the group around him.

“How dare you?” The queen rasps as she glares up at the Altean towering over her. Allura only glares back, hatred stirring in her gut.

“How dare I? You had the audacity to place yourself above a paladin of Voltron?” She asked incredulously. It was obvious that she was brainwashing these people in order to seem more powerful. How many people have died at the hand of the queen in order for them to be completely unfazed by their actions? To actually enjoy taking the lives of others?

“We will be leaving, and we will not be coming back,” Allura hissed. The queen’s eyes widened before she scrambled to latch at Allura’s ankle.

“What about our alliance?” She asked in panic. Allura glared down at her with venom and kicked her hands away from her.

“You lost that opportunity when you tried to execute the heart of Voltron,” she stomped away to help the paladins carry an inconsolable Lance away. He was trying to stand with the help of Shiro and Hunk but his legs shook so much that he kept collapsing to the ground in a heap of tears. Finally, Hunk passed off the armour to Keith and Pidge and scooped him up in his arms. He settled down after a moment and snuggled his hot face into the crook of Hunk’s neck.

“Let’s get out of here,” Shiro said quietly touching Lance’s arm that was wrapped around Hunk’s shoulder. They turned and marched out of the crowd of local and like when the queen passed, they parted for them.

* * *

“My goodness, what happened?” Coran asked as they passed him to head to the med bay. At the question Lance broke into quiet sobs again, the memories and injuries were still too fresh for him to be calm.

“The queen is an absolute monster, that’s what happened,” Hunk said as he laid Lance down on one of the beds. He whimpered as the adrenaline started wearing off and his injuries pulsed in pain.

“I will be right back, I have to assist the princess with takeoff, then we will fix Lance up,” Coran said. He looked over at the boy in the bed and it was obvious that he didn’t want to leave him right now. He had to get him off the planet though, he wouldn’t have them hurting him any more than they already have.

They nodded and surrounded the bed, wanting to comfort him but they didn’t know where they could possibly start. He whimpered and reached out to grab onto Shiro’s arm, the other clutched onto Hunk’s hand. At the touch, Hunk started crying again and hunched over, hugging the hand to himself. Keith leaned over Hunk and latched himself around his shoulder in a comforting hug.

“Don’t worry bud, we’ll get you fixed up,” Shiro comforted. He smoothed Lance’s hair out of his soaked face. Tears were still rolling down his cheeks, soaking the pillow underneath him but he could tell that he was safe. The terror of this day would never leave him though. He nodded his head shallowly and gave the leader a tiny quivering smile instead of bursting into tears again like he wanted to.

“Thank you for saving me,” he whispered. It was quiet but everyone still heard it. They turned to him in awe.

“Lance you don’t have to thank us for that, we care about you, of course, we would save you,” Pidge said. Lance nodded his head even as his eyes filled up again.

“I-I thought that I was going to die,” he admitted after a brief silence. They couldn’t even feel shocked, it was obvious that he was close to death. Shiro was the only one of them who had their life flash before their eyes and he didn’t remember it. Pidge choked and put her head into her hands and gripped onto Lance’s hand that was on Shiro’s arm.

“But you didn’t Lance, you’re here, you’re home with us,” Keith said looking into Lance’s eyes. Lance could only nod, the pure emotion in Keith’s voice and eyes shocked him.

“No one deserves to feel that, least of all you,” Shiro said in a strangled voice as he looked down at the boy. He huffed and wiped his hand down his face as tears rolled down his cheeks. They held fast to the bed as the Castle jerked and they took off into space again.

“How are you feeling my boy?” Coran asked gently, once he and Allura walked through the door. Lance looked over at him with a smile.

“Not too great Coran,” he admitted with a whisper. The paladins stared at him with worry. He must be in a lot of pain if he was admitting to not feeling great. Coran looked like he agreed with the assessment and started prepping a pod for him.

“Have no fear Lance, we’ll get you good as new in no time,” he said cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood. He nodded slightly and looked over at Allura.

“What happened with the alliance? Did you get it sorted out?” He asked her, an inquisitive look on his face. He huffed and crossed her arms in front of her.

“We will not be allying ourselves with them,” he said with finality. Lance’s eyes widened and he shook his hands away from the others to grasp onto her dress.

“I’m sorry, it’s all my fault, I didn’t mean to lose the alliance for us,” he cried looking tearfully into her eyes. She gasped placing a hand on her chest.

“No, Lance. None of this is your fault, you didn’t do anything wrong,” she insisted, cupping his cheek in her hand.

“We don’t need a planet like Tyira in the Voltron alliance,” Shiro agreed with a growl.

“Are you sure?” He asked hesitantly. Everyone else nodded and he relaxed slightly, he still couldn’t get rid of the niggling feeling that he did something wrong but he couldn’t exactly do anything about it.

“Okay, we’re all set,” Coran said tapping the last few buttons on the console. Shiro gently lifted Lance up and set him in the pod.

“We’ll all be right here when you get out,” he said before ruffling his face.

“Okay,” Lance said quietly and shut his eyes. Coran started up the pod and they watched as he fell into sleep, his chest rising and lowering slowly.

“I wish we could have destroyed that planet ourselves,” Hunk surprisingly said.

“You and me both,” Keith said placing his hand on Hunk’s shoulder.

“Lance would hate us for it,” Shiro said with a frown. He crossed his arms and looked sulkily down at the ground. They all nodded their heads in agreement. However, it didn’t stop Pidge from placing a beacon at the coordinates to lead the Galra to it.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me at my Tumblr too!: https://blueplanettrash.tumblr.com/


End file.
